Pioneer Square? On a Saturday?
The stage was set outside the Central Saloon when two well-groomed, sexy CW watchin' types strutted cautiously by with arms locked. One could hear gears switching in order to add a bit more pep to their lemon drop induced staggers when wandering dangerously close to a club blasting, gulp, hard rock and roll. One pulled her friend closer, looking as if she was about to utter something profound.
"There are lesbians in that place. Don't go in there."
Confused, I turned to investigate and saw only a roomful of men. A few women lingered, two of them being staff. I turned back around to the frightened ladies, but they had vanished unwilling to take any chances with a possible encounter with a roving lesbian of the Central Saloon kind.
Ahhhhhh, the Pioneer Square crowd - pure comedy.
Next to us, a club pumped out the jams of the safe variety. With everyone decked out in their Sunday best, it looked as if church had just dispersed and everyone headed to the club that sounded like KUBE 93 puked all over it. The manicured clientele shook their booties, a scene reminiscent of Club MTV - the horror!
Looked like a hard lemonade crowd to me.
Fortunately, two good bands emerged and shone brightly through the rank fog enveloping us all - My Bones and Organs and the Greenriver Thrillers. This section of town needed a good kick in the ass.
The Greenriver Thrillers brought it. They claim they sound like, "A troll stumbling down an alley." I wonder what it would be like if the troll stumbled into the Cube club? Now, that's a kick ass short film. At any rate, I digress and must admit that a stumbling troll sounds awesome.
Then it was My Bones and Organs' turn. These guys came out blastin' and rocked the house until a technical issue occurred. That's when shit turned weird.
Central Saloon's sound guy had a complete melt down. It was a bit uncomfortable watching this dude trying to figure out the problem. He seemed crushed under the minutia of pressure weighing on his shoulders. Dude was rude to the band and to everyone looking on. In fact, I was embarrassed for the guy, who I affectionately renamed Incompetent Sound Guy or, in the spirit of witnessing his classic melt down, Melty. The whole scenario screamed "unprofessional" and drove away a cadre of Pioneer Square heads who happened to drop in and looked to be having a blast, obviously undeterred by the lesbian threat (those aforementioned ladies are cowards I tell you! Brave the elements!).
Nice one Melty.
The ineptness continued for an excruciating fifteen minutes, but My Bones and Organs refused to fall into Incompetent Sound Guy's negativity trap. It would have been easy and understandable if they told Incompetent Sound Guy to fuck off and walked off the stage. Hell, I wanted to tell ol' Melty to fuck off and get off the stage. Guaranteed, one of the band members could have fixed the problem. However, the band continued with good humor and encouraged Incompetent Sound Guy. In the end, it was only a mic cable. Note to the Central Saloon: Incompetent Sound Guy does not make the cut.
At that point, My Bones could have stopped, everyone would have understood, but the band finished out their set with an onslaught of energy. Thanks guys.
Bands like My Bones and Organs and Greenriver Thrillers need our support. They're not trying to emulate anyone, giving us only cool, original music. From my experience at the show, people passing by stopped and took notice. It is important for us to support these bands or else we might be taken over by a KUBE nation or, even worse, another ten years of the local mope stronghold hell bent on destroying rock and roll or, at least, wussin' it up a bit. We don't want that now, do we?
For those of you looking for a hard rocking New Years Eve, check out the Greenriver Thrillers at the Twilight Cafe and Bar.
My Bones and Organs will be back in January. Stay tuned...
Two killer bands. Look forward to seeing them again.
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